Born into Exile

Worldwide, 500 women die daily in crisis situations due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth. But that figure is just a number…unless you meet the women at risk of becoming a part of those statistics. I first met Tahany Dawoud Al Ghazawi and her 4 spirited daughters in their corrugated iron hut in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan, in April 2016. I couldn’t see Tahany’s face when we first met as she wears the veil but, through her voice and her words, I could feel her warmness, her wisdom and her bravery. From Darra in Syria, 29 year old Tahany has already experienced more than most of us would wish to experience in our lifetimes. Tahany and her family fled Syria three years ago when the apartment where they were living was bombed, leaving two of her children seriously injured. They left everything behind and fled for safety over the border into Jordan, where they ended up in Zaatari refugee camp (home to 80,000 refugees). 5 million have left Syria since the beginning of the conflict. 39 weeks pregnant with her fifth child when I met her, Tahany was nervous about the upcoming birth, concerned that as she was anemic and there was no blood bank in the camp, her and her baby would be at risk.

The day after meeting Tahany, I was introduced to 17-year-old Victoria. Married at 16 and pregnant with her first child, Victoria was, like many girls in the camp, a child bride. Early marriage and adolescent pregnancy have become increasingly common in the camps where, 6 years into the Syrian crisis, financial difficulties have led more families to marry off their daughters before they reach 18 and sometimes as young as 12. Victoria was living with her husband and new parents in law. Victoria was clearly bewildered and afraid about giving birth. She wanted her own mother with her but it wasn’t possible as her parents and siblings were in another camp and permissions to leave complex to obtain. Tahany and Victoria’s stories were intimately intertwined in my mind as Tahany had made it very clear to me that, despite the family’s circumstances, her daughters will complete their education and go on to university. Meanwhile, she’s enrolled them in a martial arts class within the camp.

This film and VR experience was commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund, who work hard in fragile situations around the world, including in Zaatari refugee camp, to ensure safe births. In Zaatari refugee camp alone, their facility has ensured the safe delivery of over 5000 babies.
An increasing number of UN agencies, NGOs and other organizations working for global social good are seeing virtual reality as a powerful empathy machine.

As a filmmaker, I am particularly interested in the question of whether and to what extent VR heightens empathy. Though the idea of VR as the ultimate empathy tool has its critics, Prof. Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, who’s been researching this subject for several years, has been able to verify that “VR does cause more behavior change, more engagement and more influence than traditional media." They’ve proven, for example, that "becoming someone else in virtual reality and experiencing their trauma first hand causes a reduction in prejudice” and a higher degree of empathy and understanding.